American Go E-Journal

Round 2: The Elimination RoundRound 2 of the SportAccord World Mind Games began at 9:30 a.m. on December 12. Outside, the ground was still covered with snow, but the temperature was pleasantly warm within the playing venue at the Beijing International Convention Center. All 16 men were competing, eight in the main section, eight in the repechage, or loser’s bracket; as this is a double-elimination tournament, four of these players would be out after this round. Eight of the 12 women were competing, including the four seeded players who had byes in the first round and the four who had won their first-round games. In the men’s division, two games promised to be particularly noteworthy. One was the match between China’s Jiang Weijie (left, in photo at right) and Korea’s Kang Dongyoon (right); click here to download the game record, which includes detailed commentary by Michael Redmond 9P. Jiang’s triumphs so far this year have included the LG Cup, the Dachongjiu Cup, and the China-Japan-Korea Mingren-Meijin-Myung-in playoff. Kang won the men’s individual event at the 2008 World Mind Sports Games in Beijing, the 2009 Fujitsu Cup, and the 2009 Korean Chunwon title. The other particularly noteworthy game was the match between Czechia’s Jan Hora (left, in photo at left) and Hungary’s Csaba Mero (right) in the repechage section. The winner of that game would advance to the third round and at least double his monetary prize. In the women’s division, the two Chinese players were playing the two Japanese, and the two Koreans were playing the two from Chinese Taipei. In the men’s repechage section, Russia’s Ilya Shikshin, Argentina’s Fernando Aguilar, and Canada’s Tianyu (Bill) Lin faced tough matches against China’s Tuo Jiaxi and Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chi-han and Lin Chun-yen; for the losers of these games, the tournament would be over. Click here for Ranka’s full report.

Round 3: Then There Were 24
Round 3 started at 3:00 p.m. on December 12th, with twelve men and all twelve women competing. In the undefeated men’s section, China’s Chen Yaoye was matched against Korea’s Park Jeonghwan, and Koreans Choi Chulhan and Kang Dongyoon were matched against each other. In the undefeated women’s section, China’s Rui Naiwei was matched against Korea’s Park Jieun, a player who had occasionally managed to defeat her in title matches when Rui was playing professionally in Korea, and China’s Li He was matched against Korea’s teenaged Myung-in Choi Jeong. Most players took their seats early. Rui Naiwei and Choi Jeong spent the pre-game minutes meditating with closed eyes.In the repechage sections, the eight players who survived to advance into the fourth round were: Lin Chi-han of Chinese Taipei, who eliminated Csaba Mero of Hungary (‘His reading was too fast for me to keep up with,’ commented Mero); Lin Chun-yen (above at left) of Chinese Taipei, who surprisingly eliminated Tuo Jiaxi of China, setting up a match between the two remaining Lin’s in the fourth round, ensuring that at least one player from Chinese Taipei will reach the fifth round; Jiang Weijie of China, who eliminated Murakawa Daisuke of Japan by winning a fight in the middle of the board; Fujita Akihiko of Japan, who eliminated countrymate Uchida Shuhei; Mukai Chiaki of Japan, who eliminated Su Sheng-fang of Chinese Taipei; Joanne Missingham of Chinese Taipei, who stormed back from her morning loss to eliminate Okuda Aya of Japan; Natalia Kovaleva of Russia, who eliminated Irene Sha of Canada in a long fighting game that ended with no groups dead but many groups reduced to just two eyes and Kovaleva slightly ahead; and Vanessa Wong of Great Britain, who eliminated Rita Pocsai of Hungary, whom she had also beaten in the European Women’s Championship this year. Click here for Ranka’s full report.

Park is one of the top Korean players; he’s been on the international scene for several years. He’s a steady player with no obvious weak points. Chen’s also a top player from China; he’s very knowledgeable about some of the more complicated josekis so his opening can sometimes be quite interesting. On the whole, I think he’s a strong fighting player, and we certainly will see that in this game.